Sexualisation of women politicians
THE media is instrumental in propagating numerous negative perceptions about women politicians. Myths, beliefs and opinions about women have been published so much that they have attained the status of fact.
One of the most pervasive negative beliefs is that women are not suitable for political office, except through the pleasure of men.
These beliefs are expressed through spoken and unspoken words, innuendos and tongue-in-cheek remarks. It is strongly believed that those few women who do make it to the top in politics get there by flaunting their sexuality in exchange for favours from men.
Women politicians, especially the younger ones, are almost always romantically linked to older senior male politicians.
The allegations themselves are deemed sufficient proof because everyone just “knows” that whatever is said about women politicians’ careers and personal lives is “true”.
Every woman who has ever vied for or held a position in politics has been sexually abused and vilified in some way in the media.
Intrusive questions and abusive comments about their physical appearance, personal relationships and marital status haunt them.
All women politicians, whether they are married or not, are said to be unfaithful and of loose morals.
The result is that women are discouraged from political careers. No wonder the ever-dwindling numbers of women in politics. It, therefore, came as a huge shock and disappointment this past week when the new Member of Parliament for Mount Pleasant, Honourable Fadzayi Mahere, tweeted, tongue-in-cheek, about fellow MP and newly appointed Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Tatenda Mavetera.
She tweeted: “Can you please publicise Mavetera’s CV. I want to see something.”
It was disturbing because Mahere herself has long been a target of the most vicious and unrelenting cyberbullying about her marital status and personal life. Her supporters were quick to defend her, but in vain, because she is intelligent enough to have known what she was doing and what would happen.
Her tweet was by no means benign. It was a classic case of dog whistling. Dog whistling is “a subtly aimed political message which is intended for and can only be understood by a particular demographic group”. It literally means whistling for dogs to come.
She whistled for her social media hounds and, predictably, they came running obediently, baying for Honourable Mavetera’s dignity.
They wasted no time in tearing it to shreds. The hounds rewarded her by inflicting the same barrage of attacks and sexual abuse on Honourable Mavetera, which she, herself, so often has to endure.
The abuse against Hon Mahere started when she was inexplicably hand-picked from virtually nowhere by the leader of CCC, Nelson Chamisa, for the party spokesperson post, ahead of numerous long-standing senior party members.
She was not even in the party and had no experience whatsoever in party politics but suddenly just landed the coveted job. Many questioned it and suggested she had done something of a sexual nature to get the job.
However, in the ditzy world of social media, the zeal for likes and retweets makes it easy to forget where one has come from.
Her fellow CCC MP Gift Ostallos Siziba was quick to responded to her tweet by excitedly posting a photograph of a woman’s naked legs.
The meaning needed no explanation and the crowd went wild with excitement. To his credit, Honourable Siziba saw reason and quickly apologised, as he was possibly in breach of parliamentary protocol.
As Members of Parliament, there is a certain standard of behaviour and etiquette expected of them because they represent an arm of Government.
Women politicians are an endangered species.
Their numbers are consistently dwindling with every election.
There are only 23 elected women MPs out of 210, excluding the 60 reserved seats for the women’s quota.
The 23 women MPs, despite being from different political parties, will have to work closely together because women’s struggles cut across the political divide. It was unfortunate that Honourable Mahere, a woman expected to know better, decided to unnecessarily feed the flames of the negative perceptions about women politicians.